Health and Kindergarten Readiness

Children’s Institute (CI) is examining the role of health and the healthcare system in helping make sure young children are ready to enter kindergarten. When kids are healthy, they are better able to learn and thrive in school and life. With support from the Oregon Health Authority, CI has convened a Health Aspects of Kindergarten Readiness Technical Workgroup to recommend one or more health system quality metrics to Oregon’s Metrics and Scoring Committee.

The recommendations are intended to drive behavior change for health providers and the healthcare system, quality improvement, and investments in the health system that will contribute to improved kindergarten readiness for children in Oregon. They must also catalyze cross-sector collaboration for achieving kindergarten readiness and be consistent with the existing metrics program for Oregon’s Coordinated Care Organizations (CCOs).

For the first phase of the project, Children’s Institute collaborated with Portland State University to carry out the Kindergarten Readiness Family Focus Group Project. Focus groups were designed to explore what kindergarten readiness means to families, and what improvements they would like to see in health services and early learning programs that would contribute to kindergarten readiness. The purpose of the project was to collect data from parents and caregivers to inform the Health Aspects of Kindergarten Readiness Technical Workgroup and other statewide initiatives aimed at improving kindergarten readiness.

The communities and participants selected for the focus groups were identified to represent cultural, linguistic, and geographic diversity. Children’s Institute, the Center for Improvement of Child & Family Services, or stakeholder partners already had existing relationships in selected communities and outreach was conducted through our existing networks. Most participating families were already engaged in, and recruited through, high-quality early learning program and services.

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Timeline

The workgroup will meet monthly to explore potential metrics and develop recommendations. The workgroup will present initial recommendations to Oregon’s Metrics and Scoring Committee staffed by the Oregon Health Authority by October 2018. Future phases of work will likely be necessary to support implementation and might include testing and refinement of proposed metrics, efforts to advance data sharing across education and health, and other opportunities to promote collective action.

CI intends to share recommendations broadly with early learning stakeholders to ensure that workgroup efforts inform developments in Oregon’s early learning system, help build connections between Early Learning Hubs and CCOs, and influence philanthropic investments for improving kindergarten readiness. As the first state to develop measures of the health sector’s role in kindergarten readiness, CI will also share this work with other states.